The Girl and the Transparent Box

"Thank you for your hospitality Homura-San, I'll be sure to visit again soon," I said to the old man behind the desk of the inn

"It's no problem, Ryo-San. You help out around here enough, so it's only right if I offer you a room for the night" He smiled good-naturedly at me, waving my thanks off as if it didn't matter, but I could tell he appreciated my help catching food. He was getting old and buying food is getting harder due to increasingly rising dangers because of the war

We were just east of Grass, who had just been burned to the ground for the third time in the last decade only a few months ago. That place just keeps getting bullied

I said goodbye to the Old man once more and stepped foot outside, deciding on taking the road heading south-west. My next destination was in rain country, only as a necessity before heading south through River and taking a boat around the eastern end of the Usagi Ocean

While I would head east on foot, through Steam, word was that Kumo had that place locked down tight along with Konoha locking their sea border up just as heavily. There was somewhat of a ceasefire but I wasn't going to try and risk walking through no-mans-land when I could just find a means of transport to the south

It wasn't like I was happy going through Rain either. The place was likely just as locked down as the east, if not more, but there was more police control compared to the eastern coast where rumors came back saying you couldn't walk more than a couple hundred feet without seeing a few bodies on your way

As much as I thought I could likely handle at least a Genin with my blade - taking a pilgrimage throughout Iron would boost your skill like that - I was sure that Jonin were out of my league. Even Chunin were likely to kill me, and maybe even Genin who've been out on the battlefield for more than a month or two. Who knew

*Drip*Drip*Drip*

"God, that feels nice..."

Walking out of the Land of Fire whose temperature is no joke in the summer, and fully into Rain Country was a blessing. While the temperature didn't cool down much, the cold rain mixed with the warm air felt like bliss on my skin

I'd stood in place, actually, for a moment or two just to enjoy the feeling before walking off again

It wasn't until the next day where I reached my first settlement

"Evening" Were the first words I had heard when I walked into the Inn, along with the busy chatter of drunk civilian traders. As this place was a major crossroads for a number of villages including Rock, Sand, and Fire, not including everything to the west of Rain, it would have been surprising had there /not/ been merchants in here. The only reason there were so many was that they had to have their goods checked at the border. Mostly looking for refugees and spies hiding out in the back of caravans "We're freshly booked outta rooms if you're lookin' for one. Got a single free table though" The same voice of a woman who had greeted me said to me

"Just passing through. I'll take you up on that table, however" I'd said to her as I laid a stack of coins on her table

She just nodded without any emotions and pointed over to where a rickety old stool sat by an equally worn out tabletop. I didn't pay it any mind, seeing as how I figure she sees dozens of faces a day. She made up for it by bringing me a pint, however, which I appreciated

Another half an hour passed as I sat in silence at my table, listening to all of the conversations happening around me

"You hear Iwa's been lookin' to invade Konoha? They been sendin' troops up near Kannabi in Kusa (Grass). Hopefully they do invade and one of 'em takes the other out..." One person said from behind me

"Same here! Those two've been suckin' out my profits through a straw with this war goin' on"

Most conversations had something to do with the war that was happening. Talking about rising stars such as Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake as well as those who'd already made a name for themselves like Minato Namikaze or Sabaku no Rasa - characters who'd become leaders of their villages in future years

I didn't even notice when a hooded person sat down across from me, saying nothing

This wasn't too strange as this was practically the only place that had a free bench and didn't have a guy drunkenly banging his fist on top of the table

When I finally did notice them, it was when the lady up front brought her a drink

We both sat there in silence for quite a while before I ended up getting up, tipping the waitress upfront who just grunted at me

Seeing as how there were no rooms, I decided to camp out the back of the inn. I'd done it for seven years, one more night would never hurt

It only took an hour for the hooded person came out back to join me, setting up their own campsite

"You're a shinobi?" I asked when I noticed how efficiently they were setting everything up

"You could say that" They said without turning around. Likely a subject they didn't want to get into

Silence reigned for a while longer as we both sat in front of a shared fire

"Where are you from? Rain?" I'd decided to ask another question when I decided the silence was going on for too long

"From the capital, yes" They confirmed and I rejoiced. Finally, I could sit here without feeling like a damn spy or something

"How's that place? I'm going to be passing through eventually, heading down south..."

They looked up at me and I finally got to see their face, which until now had been hidden by some sort of shadow. They were a woman, that was for sure. She had amber colored eyes and, from the little I could see, distinctly blue-tinted hair. She didn't have any headband to mark her as a Shinobi, however

"Don't go through the Capital. I'd recommend detouring through Wind if you want to go south"

Now, I wasn't an idiot, or I'd like to /think/ I wasn't. There was only one girl that would come to mind in 'Naruto' with blue hair and amber eyes who would also come from Rain. She looked about the age she would be in around this time as well

She was a founding member of one of the most dangerous organizations in the series' history. One that cultivated members such as Kisame Hoshigake and Kakuzu of the Waterfalls

Questions, of course, were firing off in my head one by one

'Why the hell is she /here/? Why is she hooded as if she didn't want anyone to see her? Where are Nagato and Yahiko? Shouldn't they still be alive?'

I schooled my expressions as best as I could. One this was for sure, she wasn't like the other monsters of the Akatsuki. She'd been following Nagato out of obligation to Jiraiya and Yahiko, and now that she didn't have them behind her... Though the other two could have just been in the capital, I wasn't sure. Not enough information

"Why do you say that?" I asked as all of those thoughts raced through my mind

"It's a warzone..." She tilted her head back down, allowing the shadow to fall back down "Trust me, if you go there, you'll be sucked in... They won't let you leave until the war is over and by then you'll have gotten yourself into some sort of contract to stay there for another decade, if you haven't died already..."

This was... already different. I'd already known that this was not the same Naruto, what with the hundreds of new countries I'd heard about, but this seemed strange. Everything was already going according to canon. As far as I could tell, most of these countries stayed out of the wars caused by the shinobi nations.

Honestly, I could be wrong, and everything was perfectly fine, but I just don't see her leaving Yahiko or Nagato's side and wandering outside of the capital. Especially now

"I'll keep that in mind..." And that was it between us. We both slept in our respective tents and in the morning she was gone

Though, that wasn't what captured my attention. This did instead

[Congratulations! You met a main supporting character and exchanged dialogue with them! 15 Plot Points gained!]

[First Plot Points obtained! Unlocked basic functions! You can now access [Status] and [Skills] whenever you'd like!]

[Have a nice day!]

This was smothered in my face as I woke up, startling me. Of course, when I finally read it all and realized what was happening, I could only sigh

"Damnit..."